The Haiti Earthquake

[maggiethecat]

Once upon a time we all came here to discuss what was going on in our world. I miss that.

Can anyone else here watch the footage out of Haiti without feeling sick or wanting to weep? Has anyone here done the texting 90999 thing that send $10 directly to the Red Cross and adds the $10 to your phone bill? I hope so.

Anyone who has, as I have over the past year, been "in the system" that provides home healthcare workers and aides for an elderly parent, has met any number of lovely women from Haiti. I'm thinking of Yvette, whose husband is missing, and a man at the aide agency who is missing 16 family members. But even if you're not affected directly, this touches all of us.

And it does have a way of putting things in perspective. Hold tight to those you love and -- as corny as this may sound -- count your blessings.

Love to all,

Mags

[bjobsessed]

I haven't done the text thing but I'd love to do something. You can add money to your bill at many stores in town to donate to the Canadian Red Cross here. Also my church has connections with someone there--whom they have not been able to contact yet so we don't know anything about him--but the church is going to send money to Haiti too.

As always CNN covers it well but also replays the same things over and over so I have to watch for a while and then turn it off as it is hard to watch.

They are reminding everyone here as I'm sure they are wherever you live, to give only to well-known established charities and not to people who come to the door or call on the phone. Unfortunately, there are sick people out there who will try to take advantage of everyone's willingness to help.

[rducasey]

More than once I started to write about the Haiti earthquake here and got distracted. So thanks Mags for doing it. Yes, it certainly is a disaster beyond comprehension, and the death toll is staggering and rising daily. Today they pulled an 18 month old baby from the ruins which is a miracle. The images and stories are heartbreaking but so glad that there seems to be a universal desire to help. It is certainly uplifting to see the amount of help arriving in manpower and funds.
I too did the 90999 text a few times, and what could be easier! As BJ said, just make sure you are contributing to a legitimate agency. The internet has certainly made so many things easier. The stories of people finding out their loved ones are safe and able to talk with them on skype and through emails is great. Imagine in times past how long it would have been to hear from family and friends in a disaster.
A niece who was with us over Christmas had recently gone to Haiti and built a house there with a group of students. When she was here at Christmas she showed us pictures of friends she made there. She has heard from them and found out they were safe much to her relief.

[matilda]

Heartbreaking indeed and I'm sure everyone here will help. We've been remembering the Asian Tsunami 5 years ago here and thinking about the time of year and so many disasters, always.

You're all lovely. Kinda reason I thought this was a looovely Board in the first place.

M

[mlm828]

It is really difficult to get one's mind around the immense human tragedy in Haiti. My heart goes out to all of the people affected, most of whom had such difficult lives to begin with.

I have not donated by text message. Instead, I made a donation to Save the Children the old-fashioned way -- on the Internet.

I watched the coverage almost nonstop for the first couple of days. Truly heartbreaking. I started watching less when the coverage turned to so-called "experts" second-guessing the relief efforts (if they're such experts, why are they pontificating on cable TV and not there helping?) and, worse, those who are trying to score political points or increase their ratings from this tragedy.

[inuvik]

Jan 19, 2010 13:27:48 GMT -5 mlm828 said:

I watched the coverage almost nonstop for the first couple of days. Truly heartbreaking. I started watching less when the coverage turned to so-called "experts" second-guessing the relief efforts (if they're such experts, why are they pontificating on cable TV and not there helping?) and, worse, those who are trying to score political points or increase their ratings from this tragedy.

Why, whomever could you mean?

It certainly is difficult to comprehend the scope of this. We can only hope that aid gets to those who need it and that people do not get so desperate that things get out of control (absolute anarchy).

[maggiethecat]

Thank you all, for your lovely posts. On a somewhat trivial note, I find myself with a whole new respect for Katie Couric, whose coverage from the scene has been strong and simple and without ego. I especially loved that she used her "high school" French to talk to people, obviously not caring about her pronunciation, just trying to connect. The scenes of injured children are especially hard to watch -- I heard the other night that something like 38% of the population is under 15. Very glad our government stepped in and waived the paperwork for those children waiting to be adopted -- put them on a plane to safety and a new life and sort out the paperwork later.

I also hope that all the newshounds have been toting supplies with them (I haven't heard one way or another). Were I in Haiti I would be glad to see CBS and NBC and CNN, etc. -- I just hope they all came with extra water bottles!

And, as an unrepentant patriot (and boy! was that hard during the Shrub years) I love the image of those great big lovely boys in our military helping -- for over a hundred years, American soldiers have been a source of comfort to the distressed and I'm glad to see that happening again. And I'd much rather see them in Haiti than Afghanistan!

[Katryna]

I have been unable to log on for a few days...fried hard drive! But I am back now.

I work with a woman whose Uncle's church has done relief work in Haiti for a few years. They work with a particular orphanage there (she has shared pictures of the kids with us and it is heartbreaking at the BEST of times!). The day after the earthquake she asked for donations at work for a group of 4 from the church who were flying out that night and needed things to take with them like granola bars, bottled water, medical supplies, etc., so that is how I have contributed. There is another group leaving in February. Melanie has not heard from her uncle since they left. They were flying to the Domincan Republic and then going by land into Haiti. Our hope and prayers are that the children are safe. I will keep you posted!